Southeast New England festival features films, music and parties

Friday

Apr 17, 2015 at 12:01 AMApr 17, 2015 at 6:04 AM

Among highlights are premiere of autism documentary from R.I. filmmaker and family drama from Coventry natives.

By Andy SmithJournal Arts Writer

The seventh annual Southeast New England (SENE) Film, Music & Arts Festival is heading to Rhode Island next week, with 120 films, five musical performances and several parties scheduled for April 20 through April 25.

Among the highlights will be the world premiere of Rhode Island documentarian Cherry Arnold's new film "Bluebirds Fly: Love and Hope on the Autism Spectrum" and a showing of "Bereave," a family drama from Coventry natives Evangelos and George Giovanis starring Malcolm McDowell and Jane Seymour.

Events will be held at three locations: The Columbus Theatre, 270 Broadway, Providence; the Warwick Museum of Art, 3259 Post Road, Warwick; and the Brooklyn Coffee Tea House, 209 Douglas Ave., Providence.

SENE artistic director and co-founder (with Don Farias) Philip Capobres said he's a film fan who always attended and volunteered at film festivals before finally deciding to start his own.

"I'm not a filmmaker, I just love watching movies," said Capobres, who works at Fidelity when he's not involved with the festival. "It's a labor of love."

Capobres said the SENE festival received about 550 submissions from around the world before narrowing the field down to 120, many of them short films, 26 from local filmmakers.

Most of the movies will be shown at the Columbus, starting Monday at 7 p.m. with three documentaries commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Filmmaker Roger Hagopian will be on hand to discuss his film.

SENE will also show the feature "Wildlike" Monday, about a girl who runs away in Alaska.

On Tuesday, the Whisky Treaty Roadshow from Massachusetts will perform at the Brooklyn Coffee Tea House.

Thursday, the Warwick Museum of Art will host the SENE Festival's Limelight Party, which will include live music and an art exhibit by University of Rhode Island seniors.

Four individuals or organizations will receive the annual Limelight Awards: Jon and Betty Jane Berberian, owners of the Columbus Theatre; the Columbus Cooperative, which books the theater; Anthony Demmings of the Brooklyn Coffee Tea House; and Mike Ryan of Motif Magazine.

Next Friday and Saturday are busy ones at the Columbus, with a full slate of films screening in both the main downstairs theater and the smaller venue upstairs.

Friday's features will include "Hunting the Phantom," a thriller with Armand Assante, and the romantic comedy "Bread and Butter" with Bobby Moynihan of "Saturday Night Live."

On Saturday, Cherry Arnold's documentary will screen at 3:30 p.m. on the main level, while the Giovanis brothers' "Bereave" is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the upstairs space.

The brothers, who attended Coventry High School and URI, live in Los Angeles, which is where "Bereave" was filmed in a lightning-fast 18 days over January and February.

In a phone interview, Evangelos Giovanis said the movie stars Malcolm McDowell as a husband who is preparing to die alone. When his wife, played by Jane Seymour, goes missing, he finds the will to live in order to save her.

The Giovanis brothers used the online funding site Kickstarter to raise $103,000 to help finance the film, and then found additional money from private investors.

"It took eight years, but we did it," he said.

It's been playing the festival circuit, and Giovanis said he hopes to find a distributor that will enable the movie to be shown in theaters.

For information about scheduling and tickets for the festival, go to www.senefest.com

CORRECTION: Due to incorrect information from festival organizers, a different filmmaker's name was given rather than Roger Hagopian's as attending Monday's event at the Columbus Theatre.

asmith@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7485

On Twitter: @asmith651

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.